It is very common in many agricultural fields and with many different agricultural crops, such as vegetables, to use plastic film webs as mulch covering the rows or seed beds. Plastic webs preserve moisture, inhibit weed growth and permit fumigation of the soil.
The rows or seed beds are prepared to have a planting surface above the level of the ground between the rows. The raised beds are covered by a web of plastic film and the opposite side edges of the plastic web are held down by a small amount of soil placed thereon. The crop is planted in the rows or seed beds by punching or cutting holes in the plastic webs at spaced intervals and setting plants or seedlings in the seed beds through such holes.
The plastic webs inhibit weed growth and conserve moisture. In addition, the crops may be irrigated by percolating water from below into the seed beds, with such percolation being assisted by plastic webs. A plastic web generally can be used for two successive crops and sometimes even more before it must be removed and replaced.
Upon removal of the used plastic webs from the agricultural field, disposal of such used plastic webs is a distinct problem. Heretofore, it has been common to dispose of such agricultural plastic mulch by depositing the same in landfills. Such landfills usually charge for the disposal of such agricultural plastic mulch by volume and weight and, accordingly, such disposal has been very expensive.
In more recent times, landfills are refusing to accept agricultural plastic mulch for disposal. Accordingly, users of such agricultural plastic mulch have few, if any, disposal options currently available to them. The used plastic film mulch simply accumulates in large mounds or stacks at the ends of the agricultural fields from which such agricultural mulch has been removed, or at other equally unacceptable locations.
In Applicant's co-pending application, Ser. No. 08/213,688, filed Mar. 16, 1994, there is disclosed an apparatus for removing and baling plastic mulch when it is desired to remove the same from the seed beds on which the plastic film mulch has been used. While such an apparatus effectively removes the plastic mulch and compacts and bales the same into compact form, the users of plastic mulch still are faced with the same disposal problems that existed with other forms of plastic mulch removal.
Disposal options, other than burying in landfills, for the agricultural mulch are further limited by the significant amounts of dirt, debris and the like which adhere to the used plastic film mulch after it is removed from the seed beds. Heretofore, the only effective means for removing the dirt, debris and the like from the used agricultural film mulch has been to wash the plastic mulch with water. The use of water on the plastic mulch is highly undesirable because of the volume of water required, the disposal of the contaminated water and the difficulty in drying the plastic mulch so that it may be further processed.